School Vision

St Matthew’s School empowers children to embrace life-long learning, and grow and develop as God intends.

Prayer for Rural Families

Bless us, O God, we who live close to the land. Bless us as you blessed Jesus, Mary and Joseph. They, like we, our models in family life knew the struggles, the fears, the joys and the rewards of life in a rural area.

Help us to be aware of the quiet beauty of the night, the fresh green growth on trees and all plants and the songs of birds. We give thanks for all of these.

May we always show respect for all of creation. Bless each of us and help us grow in love and unity with you and with each other.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

 

Dear Parents & Carers,

As we begin the last few weeks of the school year, I would like to acknowledge all the staff and parents who have contributed to the myriad of exciting events we have held this year. From school excursions to morning reading to sporting carnivals to assemblies to Busy Bees and musical extravaganzas, we have been so blessed to have dedicated and talented community members helping us along the way.

Volunteer’s Morning Tea

On behalf of all the happy St Matthew’s staff and students, I would like to invite all of our hard-working and generous volunteers to a Thank You Volunteers’ Morning Tea at 10:45am on Wednesday 2 December in the Undercover Area. We look forward to thanking you all in person.

Pupil Free Days – 20 November & 23 November

This Friday, 20 November, and next Monday, 23 November, the lucky St Matt’s kids get to have extra days home as the teachers are taking part in Professional Development. The staff will look carefully at how we can implement effective assessment to assist our students with their creative writing. It is very important to us that we stay well informed of new educational advances to ensure we are always providing our students with the most effective teaching strategies.

Annual Community Meeting

We would like to invite all of our parents to attend the St Matthew’s ACM on Tuesday 24 November. At this meeting, our P&F and School Board will present their reports, and the staffing for the 2021 school year will be announced. 

I would like to remind everyone of the opportunity for parents to nominate to be part of the P&F executive committee. This is a unique opportunity to be more actively involved with your child’s school life. I encourage all of our parents to consider volunteering to take an active role in our P&F by nominating themselves prior to the ACM. Should you require any more information, please do not hesitate to contact the school, or any of the current executive members. 

P&F Recipe Book

A big thank you from the P&F for the support of the Recipe Book fundraiser. All families who have pre-paid for a recipe book, will have their copy sent home with the eldest child on Tuesday 17 November. For those wanting to purchase (including anyone who pre-ordered but did not pre-paid), the P&F will be at the school office Tuesday 17 November 3.15 to  4.15pm with plenty of copies to go around. Following this, copies will be available from the front office. Thanks again for all of your support!

Principal’s Focus – Swim Safe

Although the weather has not exactly been summery lately, it won’t be long before our kids are eager to take a dip.  As the Junior classes prepare for swimming lessons in Week 7, I feel it is a good opportunity to remind us all how to be safe this swimming season. 

At St Matthew’s, we are very lucky to be able to offer swimming lessons to all of our students from Pre-Primary to Year 6; however, according to the Royal Lifesaving National Drowning Report 2020, there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of toddlers enrolling in swimming lessons this year:

There was a 52% decrease in drowning involving children under five, which is a pleasing statistic, and Western Australia recorded no drowning deaths in this age group for the first time in our recorded data. However, Royal Life Saving WA CEO Peter Leaversuch says now is not the time to become complacent. “We’re concerned that more than 60,000 Western Australian children have missed out on taking part in swimming and water safety lessons this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which could leave them at a greater risk of drowning this summer. We’d urge parents to enrol their children in Infant Aquatics and Swim and Survive classes, and as always check your pool fence and gate, and always keep watch.

Raisingchildren.net.au, the Australian parenting website, reminds us that supervision is the key to pool safety:

• staying in constant visual contact, not just glancing towards the water occasionally
• staying within arms’ reach of toddlers and beginner swimmers at all times when they’re in or around the water
• staying close to the water when you’re supervising children who can swim, and being ready to get in if there’s an emergency
• taking children with you if you leave the pool area, even for a moment.

Just keep swimming – safely!

Susan Milton

Principal

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